Discovery
by Alexandria Solace
Summary: A collection of Artemis/Holly drabbles. Will only be updated if I have INSPIRATION.
1. Butterflies

A/N First in a series! Series of oneshots about Artemis and Holly-progressing from the end of the Atlantis Complex to the end of The Last Guardian. Feedback is much appreciated. Yes, they will be this short sometimes.

Holly stared at the face of her comscreen long after Artemis had signed off. He seemed so... different.  
_Well, of course._  
Granted, he had had-problems, lately-Holly shuddered as she remembered the conference in the Arctic, and the realization that he had the Complex- but it was as if the confident genius she had known had dissipated, leaving a frightened, semi-delusional teenager.  
Not someone she had ever imagined Artemis being.  
Just thinking about who she imagined Artemis truly was was confusing. Sometimes calculating, sometimes soft-hearted-sometimes just plain evil.  
Holly didn't understand the warm, slightly nervous butterflies that arose in the pit of her stomach when she thought about him, either.

Fear, likely.


	2. Arrival

A/N I know. I said it would be a oneshot. *hangs head*

Holly milled around the shuttleport's waiting room, impatience and nervous energy combining in her to cause a small storm with her emotions.  
_You're a professional, Short, not a hormone-ravaged teen- not anymore. Get it together.  
Anyway, what is there to be nervous about?_  
Holly quietly exhaled with relief as a uniform-clad sprite stuck his head into the room, providing a welcome distraction from her thoughts.  
"Short- Captain-Miss-Short, the Mud Men have arrived."  
Holly smiled grimly. The sprite's awkward address had made it all too clear to her that while she was no longer exactly a civilian anymore, she wasn't exactly an officer, either.  
Holly could handle that.  
She just wasn't sure she could handle out-of-date hormones.

Artemis entered alone.  
The door was a small one, and Butler obviously could not fit through, and she saw him peering anxiously through on the other side.  
As Holly saw the Mud Boy enter, the conglomeration of emotions she had been holding inside for months melted away, leaving only lightness.  
She sprinted towards him, unable to bear a single second more of separation-and stopped herself.  
_Get a grip. Slow down. He's a Mud Boy, for Tara's sake. You are not-you are _not_- No. You're just_ not.  
Instead, she took in his appearance, after the months of little or no contact.  
He appeared much the same, fundamentally, but his mismatched eyes were hollow and anxious, and deep blue shadows under his eyes betrayed many sleepless nights.

His long, dextrous fingers-thinner than ever- fidgeted constantly, twisting and intertwining.  
He looked exhausted.  
"Holly? Is that you?"  
"Yes, Artemis. I'm here. It's me."  
He glanced around the room nervously.  
"Foaly betrayed me. There are sensors-he's taping me, he'll use the footage against me. We have to stop him, Holly. And the Cube. We must program the Cube, make sure there are no fours in it. Fix the ice cap."  
Holly swallowed hard, fighting back rebellious tears.  
"I'll try, Artemis. I'll try."  
_Artemis, what is happening to you, my friend?_


	3. Dissipation and Mascara

A/N Artemis muses on Holly.

**Argon's Clinic**

Artemis frowned.  
_There is no reason for my feelings. An intellect such as mine should preclude superficialities.  
And she is not even of my race.  
_But as he watched Holly's approaching figure, her being of another species didn't seem to be so much of an obstacle.  
Holly had recently begun letting her hair grow out of its customary crew cut, and her glossy, straight auburn locks now brushed the very tips of her pointed ears, just long enough to bridge the gap between boyish and tomboyish.

Artemis filed the change, and briefly scanned for any other alterations in his friend.

Tiny wi-tech earrings, a faint brush of gold mascara (or whatever it was called, Artemis thought irritably) over her tawny eyes- accentuating the faint flecks of glowing green surrounding her pupils, and, Artemis noticed, contrasting attractively against her mocha skin.

_Wait. Did, I, Artemis Fowl the Second, just use the word attractive to describe a girl?  
_

_I'm turning into a girl-crazy-_

"Hey there, Arty."  
She gently bumped him shoulder to shoulder-or shoulder to ribcage, which was as high as the elf could reach- in her version of a hug.  
Holly was glad to see the sardonic humour he usually displayed evident in her friend's eye- a sign that the Complex truly had dissipated.

_Wait. Did I, Holly Short of the LEP, just use the word dissipated in a sentence?_

_I'm turning into a mini Artem-_

Artemis flicked her hair.  
"This is...new."  
She grinned cheekily at him.  
"So it is, little Mud Boy" _or not so little, _she thought with a touch of melanchoy "I got tired of people calling me sir."

The two friends walked out of the clinic, and into the sim-sunlight of the plaza.


	4. Thought Patterns

Holly gazed into the clone's milky, unseeing eyes, feeling the same pity she always did when around Nopal.

_Poor thing. She never asked for this._

She gently stroked Nopal's hair away from the clone's perspiration-dewed forehead-and jerked her arms out of the built-in gloves as she heard someone come in.

_Artemis. I might have known._

"No, Captain, you would not have known-unless, of course, you have memorized my thought patterns-which I highly doubt-you would not."

Artemis decided this was not the time to let slip the fact that he himself had recorded Holly's basic thought patterns during the past weeks.

**A/N: Don't you just love drabbles?**


	5. Foaly Makes a Megamind Reference

**Outside Police Plaza- the Golden Troll Cafe.**

"Thinking about Awwtemis?"  
Holly buried her head in her hands and groaned.  
"I take it back. I shouldn't have told you. Remind me never to reveal my deepest secrets to you again."  
Foaly snickered.  
"Honestly, Holly. You have a crush on a Mud Boy?"  
"No! I mean, yes! I mean-"  
Foaly leaned back in his chair and smirked.  
"You mean that you're in denial."  
Holly ground her teeth.  
'Listen, pony boy, one more word about Artemis and I swear by Danu that I will-"  
Foaly snickered. Again.  
"You're going to what? Report me to death?"  
Holly looked up at him, appalled.  
"So you did watch Megamind. Foaly, what have I told you about Mud Man movies?"  
The centaur pretended to think about it for a moment.  
"Hmmm. Let's see. What about... nothing?"  
"Artemis gave it to you, didn't he?"  
Foaly winced.  
'Speak of the devil."

Artemis Fowl the Second strolled somewhat self-consciously up to their table.  
"Hello, my friends."  
Holly decided not to look at him. It seemed to be working so far. Maybe he wouldn't notice that she was the same shade of red as the sim-tomato in her uneaten salad.  
"Holly, are you all right?"

Artemis was, to say the least, somewhat surprised by Holly's reply.  
"Yes, Fowl. And-" she checked her watch-  
"-I'm also in duty in about ten seconds. So, noble steed, excuse me."  
And with a rather hard knock to Foaly's head, she disappeared through the door.  
Artemis sighed.  
"Since when does she call you Fowl"  
Foaly emerged from beneath the table, rubbing an emerging bump on his head.  
For the second time that day, Artemis sighed.  
"I don't know, old friend. I just don't know."


	6. A Brief Call

"You think I should what?"  
For perhaps the second time in his life, Artemis Fowl was speechless.  
"Mother, I cannot simply ask a girl to go on a date with me."  
He clicked the communicator's voice button off, giving himself a minute to think while his mother mouthed soundlessly at him from the screen.  
She overrode it.  
"Arty, dear, that was very rude."  
He winced.  
"I'm sorry, Moth- Mom. But I cannot go on a date with Holly. "  
"You did it very easily with Minerva."  
Artemis opened and shut his mouth.  
"Minerva is-Minerva. It's different."

Back at Fowl Manor, Angeline stared worriedly at the blank screen, wondering why the subject of a relationship with the fairy captain always seemed to upset him so.


	7. The Plot Thickens (Or Actually Starts)

"NO!"  
It was a memorable moment.  
Holly Short had turned pink for one of the few times in her career. Of course, the fairy captain had a reason: Lily Frond had decided to set up a date between herself and Trouble Kelp.  
Because, you know, she was just that sweet.  
"Hon, I really think it would be great for both of you. Hols, you've been totally overworking yourself-" she patted Holly's arm lightly, her inch-long Day-Glo nails slashing the air  
"and Trouble just, you know, needs to lighten up! I think it would be wonderful for you two! You know, you really are a cuuute couple, hon. Hols, you know you want to."  
"I don't think I've ever heard you sound faker."  
Lily pretended not to hear as she sashayed out the doors of Police Plaza and onto the old-acorn-plated cobblestones.  
"Bye, Hols!"  
_And don't call me that!_  
Holly almost shouted it, careless of the bustle of LEP officers around her, when her wi-tech earring buzzed.  
"Holly?"  
She held back a groan as Artemis' familiar voice rang through the speaker, slightly blurred by static.  
"Arty, now is not the-"  
"Iwantyoutogoonadatewithme"  
"What did you-"  
"I want you to goonadate with me."  
Holly sat down. Hard. In the middle of the street.  
"Uh... when?"  
She heard him take a deep breath from the other end.  
"I was considering next Friday. At-my house. Mother and Father will be out for the day, and a large portion of the servants will be gone with them. I would... truly appreciate it if you came."  
She grinned.  
"Sure, Arty."

In his office in Dublin, the red-eyed boy put down the com-device and sat silently on the computer chair, staring wordlessly at the delicate-faced pixie facing him.


	8. Like, A Really BAD Idea

A/N Sorry about the red-eyes thing, I meant ragged pupils. Ah, well. Okay! * hugs reviewers and hands out cookies* AU because of the protection rune :)

Holly stepped into the shuttle, ignoring Foaly's worried comments in her ear.  
"Holly, this really isn't a good idea. I mean, when I say not a good idea, I mean l like, a bad idea. And when I say a bad idea, I mean A BAD idea. Like, as in a really bad idea. Okay? You get what I'm saying?"  
Holly slammed the throttle forward, sending the craft rocketing forward, heading towards the crescent-shaped slice of hell in front of her.  
"Foaly, all he wants is to- what do Mud People call it- _hang out _with me, okay?"  
Her tone was irritated enough that Foaly's complaints subsided to a grumpy murmur in her helmet speakers, allowing her to concentrate on steering the shuttle to the surface.

Foaly stared at the microphone, wondering what he could say to dissuade his friend from going.

_No, Holly, not okay. Definitely not. Maybe I can't put my finger on it, but there's something wrong here. Something very, very wrong. _

Holly's mind was churning with a feeling she wouldn't allow herself to recognize- something she knew that no fairy should ever feel for a Mud Boy.  
Ever.  
But she did feel it. And she was heading towards the surface for a border-line illegal visit with him that might cost her her job if it went public- because she had to see him.

Had to.  
Absolutely had to.


	9. Unforgivable

A/N I am so sorry for not updating in so long. Okay, here goes.

Holly hung limply in the net. She had long since stopped struggling, realizing that she was only weakening it- and in her position- hung from a tree in it on the Fowl Estate grounds- weakening the net was not a good thing.

She groaned as she remembered the events of the last half-hour. Holly had stepped right into the trap.  
_I let my feelings for Artemis blind me. Unforgivable._

As soon as Holly had stepped into the house, she had felt nausea and dizziness overtake her violently, leaving her gasping as she leant against one of the walls.  
And then she had realized: She had been tricked. Some way, Artemis' voice had been faked- she had never been asked in the first place.  
And now she would pay for not checking her caller list with Artemis'-or hers- life.  
Holly almost gave up, for one of the few times in her life.

Until she shifted position and felt something sharp dig into her hip.


End file.
